The minute you sink, you can swim
As soon as you say you don't know, you've
                got the answer
The moment you stop at Love's door, you're
                already inside
 
 
 
 

We are a puzzle, as the best things always are.
Piece by piece you arrange me as you would
a vase of flowers.  One piece is missing!
It's already yours, so hand it over,
that love you're still holding there in your hand.
 
 
 
 

reading aloud in an open field -
all the while listening,
the young blades of grass grow taller
 
 
 
 

Ocean!  Palm trees!  Listen to me!
I've had one too many beers tonight
and I've got something to say!
 
 
 
 

Summer storm -
clouds scurry across the sky -
no moon crosses my heart
 
 
 
 

nobody would believe that it's that simple to be who
you are so simple in fact nobody else could ever know how
 
 
 
 

I wish I were the rose
in the vase I gave you
that day and night watches over you
 
 
 
 

for Rob Caramico

I fell asleep, and dreamt that we were
together again at San Gregorio beach,
white caps visible as far as the horizon,
and that your death had only been a dream.
 
 
 
 

When I really see it I'm dense green on the
                      mountain top
cool water cascading into the valley below
 
 
 
 

get ready for death the suitcase of your belongings
unpacked not another soul or road sign in sight you're
really on your own now
 
 
 
 

The September rains come and go
and come again -
my moods rise and fall
with the level of the Rio Cuale
 
 
 
 

Daylight departs,
carrying its lantern of gold -
the moon opens it face startled
 
 
 
 

Passion passes from one person to the next like sugar or
salt goes from one end of the table to the other.
This fire inside of us has never gone out
since the beginning of time.
 
 
 
 

life endless life death death throws up its roadblock
waving giving the finger life goes roaring by
 
 
 
 

this suffering that places me with the rest this
solitude that sets me apart these
39 years gone now like a dream come true
 
 
 
 

You've got something to hide, I've got the ring with the
                 keys to those locks.
You bolt the door and shutter all the windows, I'm
                 already in the air you breathe.
You swear you won't be taken alive, that's alright
                 with me, I'm the one
brought you back to life in the first place.
 
 
 
 

I can't give it up
no matter how hard I try
this love goes on repeating your name
 
 
 
 

The waves come in, breaking upon the shore
              from such a great distance -
We lie in each other's arms, listening to our
              breaths rise and fall
 
 
 
 

Tide so low I can walk out among the rocks -
even though I'm a stranger here the sea
lies open like a lover
 
 
 
 

Plant one seed,
there's enough to feed a city.
That's how truth is: Once you see it,
no one goes hungry
 
 
 
 

Don't give truth a second thought
it can't be had by thinking
something comes to us and we know
no words can ever say how we were born
 
 
 
 

incomparably happy I listen to the night crickets
I look out over Banderas Bay the city is drowsy and almost
asleep my feet long to go off by themselves on the cobblestone
streets of Vallarta a single moth flutters overhead
my balcony light reaches all the way across the Milky Way
 
 
 
 

listen with your ear that has no orifice
hear the song that's never been sung
you say the heart has no eyes of its own?
look how he stumbles through his ignorance
                   and greed
the one whose heart has been blinded
 
 
 
 

empty heart, empty life
poems fill that emptiness to the very brim
 
 
 
 

looking back over the past -
gods take pity on this -
so few arms I've rested in
 
 
 
 

You've built your house on quicksand
What good will it do you
piling treasure upon treasure?
with all that on your shoulders
when death comes knocking
you're bound to sink
 
 
 
 

I'm sunset at dawn, sunrise at dusk
You thought you knew who I was
and the meaning of my words
Not until you've tasted the five hundred
            suns of longing can you
take a sip of love's cool healing waters
 
 
 
 

you've set this heart on fire
these tears only add to the flames
 
 
 
 

poems should fall just like that from a mind
                     that's ripe -
without a single blossom, this tree bears fruit
 
 
 
 

A parrot repeats only
what others have told it.
Listening to everyone's praise
how will you know your own word?
 
 
 
 

One got it right, the others
got caught without a clue.
How to avoid
the mind's snares?
 
 
 
 

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